Holly Bond
Appearances
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
We will never use the LinkedIn AI tool to have a template to send the same message to people. We will look at their background, and it does make it slower, but we're okay with that because, again, we're dealing with people. So we will look at their LinkedIn profile or their resume, and we will send a message to them, not a template.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
We will say, hey, I see that you're over in Prince Edward Island or you're in Toronto. I see that this is happening, or we will make sure that when they read it... They know an AI bot has not sent them a message. We need them to know that. The beginning of the search starts with caring and curiosity, and an AI bot doesn't have either one of those things.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
Where AI is really helpful is when you're interviewing 20 people, 30 people for a role, and it'll help transcribe your thoughts and put it into a very, and very quickly, and it'll do that in a succinct way where you can when you go to your client for the shortlist meeting, you say, these are the five candidates. Here's the resume.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And here is a succinct and concise description of them and their qualities and their characteristics and why they, you know, we always say, you know, we're looking for these four legs of the stool. They need to have these four things. So what is it that they have? But AI tools can really help with that. And it makes us more efficient. But
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
AI doesn't have, and I'm not against AI, I use ChatGPT all the time, but it doesn't have empathy and emotional intelligence. So if I, and I always think back to myself, I didn't have my degree. It never stopped me from being headhunted. It never stopped me from doing any job. I was a headhunter and didn't have my degree. And I was interviewing people that were much more well-educated than I was.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And that's why if you put in the Boolean search for your AI tool, they would never have picked me up. I would have slipped through the cracks. You need to have a human eye. And if you only look to use AI to source individuals, you are going to miss some of the most incredibly talented people for this role. So... We understand and respond to emotions, right?
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And we have years of nuanced understanding. So we have this intuition that has developed as we have those trips around the sun. But AI relies on data patterns and they will miss that. There's also so many gray areas. Human beings are meant to navigate complex dilemmas and work in the gray area, but an AI can't.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
When I look at a role, when we, I shouldn't say I, when we look at a role, we will say, what adjacent careers would this person have had that, and I'm going to use think outside the box, like thinking outside the box, where else could this person be? Instead of we're looking for a senior director of finance, Where else could they be? Senior director of marketing in the ocean tech sector.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
But where else could they be? Could they be in the agricultural sector? Thinking outside the box and offering creative solutions that go beyond any algorithms. And then to me, the reason why you get into recruiting or the reason why you get into doing podcasts like yours is the personal connection. Building a personal relationship is uniquely human. You can inspire people.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
You can transform people. You can change the trajectory of their life because you care that AI cannot. So AI to me and to my group, it should be used to make us more efficient so that we can spend more time on personal connection. That's what we're using AI for. more time with people. And you have to be a job seeker in an AI-driven market, right? So you need to know how to balance both now.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
Yeah, when I talked to my friends, when I told them that I was going to do this, they all were shocked and they all laughed at me because I was a recruiter 20 years ago and there was elements that I really liked about it, but there was a lot that I didn't and I left. And I left because in recruiting, we're dealing with people.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
It's really back when I was a recruiter, I would put a job in the paper and then come into work in the morning and I'd have resumes on the fax, like people would fax the resumes in. It's so funny how things have changed, isn't it? Half the people listening don't even know what a fax machine is. I think it's not funny. So one of the things that we do at Fastest is building your network.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
It doesn't matter where you are in the world. It doesn't matter who you are. Your personal connections are invaluable. There's the old fashioned, I always think the middle-aged white man standing with your suit and tie and your drink and that kind of networking. Younger people don't want that anymore. I don't want that anymore. And those men don't want it anymore.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
So we have networking events that we've created where people, A, learn how to network, especially through COVID. Those skills have declined. And younger people who went to university and graduated through COVID, they didn't really learn how to do that. So showing them that networking is an art form and that it's an easy one, but it's an art form.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And it's something that you need to devote time every week to. and do it in a genuine way. Because personal connections, they are invaluable. You have to attend... What is your favorite industry? Attend those industry events. Go to the webinars. Put your camera on. Networking groups to build those relationships and get insights into the job opportunities.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
Vince, I can't tell you how many times I am working with a client. They tell me the strategy. And in that strategy, they will say, next year we're going to hire this role, this role. And so I know...
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
these organizations and what they're going to be looking for when I'm talking to somebody I can say oh my gosh you know what next year this person is exactly who they're looking for and I will contact my client and I'll say look I know that you don't have the job right now but I have somebody that is perfect for the culture of your organization you would love them can I make the introduction and they do
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
People with families, people with emotions, and people are complex, right? At the end of the day, what we always have to remember as recruiters, people are very complex. And the parent company of my company is Royer Thompson. And Royer Thompson's been around almost 30 years. And Kim West is the president of Royer Thompson. And about seven years ago, she bought the company and she rebranded it.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And then they offer them a job that they've created a year early. So not all jobs are posted. And when you... This is going to sound a little bit out there, but I do believe that we are on a journey. And when you put it out there, the universe will conspire to get you what you want. If I want to move into another... kind of sector, then I will attend those industry events. I will talk to people.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
I will think about it. I will read about it. And I will tell people, look, I'm looking for a job in this industry. Do you know any roles? And then you have informational interviews. Could I have 20 minutes of your time? Just to learn about you. Everybody loves talking about themselves. Tell me about you and your journey.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And then after you're done, do you know two other people that you could introduce me to? And then they will. And then you keep and that's how you network and you keep building it and they will give you two people. And then you just know who they are next time you're at an event or, you know, embrace lifelong learning in technology, AI.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
It just shows adaptability and a commitment to growth and make sure that you update your resume. I tell people when I hire people and it's really funny because I see their faces when I say it. The first day at the job, I go, okay, you know the very first thing you need to do? And they say, no. I said, you need to get your resume and put it on your desktop.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
You have the job description now because I just hired you and this is the job description. Update your resume. And they look at me like, do you want me to leave? I'm like, always have your resume on your desktop. Because when you have that big sale or you improve efficiency by 30% or whatever it is, go into your resume, make the change, and then it's always up to date. It's like a will.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
Your will should be up to date and so should your CV. But I had a resume the other day and at the bottom it said, last three books I read. And I thought, I really like that. I haven't seen that before. It shows me what a little bit, it gives me a clue of what they're like.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
When it's leveraging AI wisely, Mary Shea, her podcast, will explain that, and there's other tools and resources, and I won't go into those. You need to be caught in, if they're going to do a Boolean search, if they're going to use an AI tool to capture resumes, you refine your resume and cover letter. And...
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
to the specifications that they're looking for you know the keywords that they're that are going to catch your resume and cover letter but just make sure that they reflect your true personality and your experience and customize each application to the job in the company don't do have one resume and just send it out you're not going to get the job Be authentic. I had a job that was posted.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
I'm done the interviews. I submitted my shortlist and I have eight incredible candidates. This person emailed me an hour before my shortlist meeting with the client. And the shortlist meeting is very intense because they're asking you a ton of questions about the people that you've interviewed and you need to be on. You need to be really good.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
So an hour before I looked at my email and this person emailed me. She said, I know that you are probably finished the search and you've probably talked to your client. And so I don't want to interrupt your process. And she was thinking of me when she was emailing, but I would really, this job speaks to me. And if they don't find the person in this go around, I would love to be considered.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
She didn't demand anything. She didn't call and leave a message on my machine. She just said this. And I said, can you talk right now? And I talked to her for 15 minutes. She took the risk. She just put herself out there. And I said, I'm going to put you forward. I haven't even interviewed you. I don't even know you. But I get such a great sense from you.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
I'm going to put you on the list and tell them about my conversation and that I think that they should consider meeting you. And they are. She's going to get an interview, even though it was really shut down. So it's putting yourself out there and going after. So if you see him, you wouldn't believe how many times I say to people that are looking for jobs, I'll say. I've been here my entire life.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
I have not left the east coast of Canada. And so my network is very deep and broad. And I will say to people, look, before you apply for a job, contact me. And just in case I know somebody there, because I can make a warm introduction. And very few people take me up on that. And I'm always interested. Because they know me, they know I'm genuinely meaning this. Very few people do.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
She breathed a new, more innovative breath into it. And they're spectacular. The process is very filled with empathy and curiosity. And I have known Kim for years. And Kim came to me and asked me if I would open a new division of Royer Thompson, open a new, basically a new company. Royer Thompson does the C-suite, board and academia.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And I'm always curious as to why, because I'm happy to help them. So if you're going to apply for a job, go into LinkedIn, see who you know that's connected to anybody in the company and go that route first. Find out, do research. Don't just apply for the job. Do your research first and get in and find somebody who knows somebody. Then work your way back from there.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
The most important thing though is to be genuine, Whether you're writing a cover letter or interviewing, it's like any relationship. If I'm genuine and I'm telling you what I'm great at, what I love to do, what I'm not so great at.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And what I don't really like to do, and I'm telling you the honest truth, and the client is telling you the honest truth about their culture and how you can help them, and you're both telling each other, you're both being genuine, then you're going to develop a relationship based on honesty, just like any other relationship, any other human relationship.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
It'll be genuine and honest, and it'll work. If you pretend that you know how to do something that you don't, if you are not genuine and honest...
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
like any relationship it's going to be rocky right and so i think it's that and networking i can't stress it enough the ai is out there but it's not a person and people will help you and you just need to expand the network and have fun doing it and make it part of your daily weekly routine. And you learn so much by having these conversations. But you know what?
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
I forgot one of the best things about networking. One of the best things about having a very large network, it's easier to help people, right? So it's not just networking so that you have
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
numbers and they can help you with their career it is when somebody calls me and they need whatever it doesn't matter like they want to start a business or they need a job or whatever the issue that they're having my network is so broad now that I'm able to help people and not just myself but help others and connect others and that's the best part about having that network
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
It has been such a pleasure speaking with you. And the questions that you asked me were, I just, I love them. But it actually, it's almost like therapy, Vince. So you're asking me these questions that... I don't talk about these things every day. I don't even think about them every day.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
But when you gave me a chance to reflect and I'm so happy about my path, like you've made me realize when I look back and see my path, I'm so happy with the journey that I've been on and where I'm at right now and Thank you for that. You've opened up my eyes to that and I really appreciate you allowing me that.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
I feel honored to be on your show and I felt honored when you sent me a message to be on your show because I've listened to the podcast. Your guests are phenomenal and I will continue to listen in the future. But it's so important. And your podcast is, it's different. I was listening to a podcast the other day. There was like three people on a panel.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And I had to turn it off because everybody's talking over each other. And it was like, it was just frustrating to try to listen to. And yours are... and the questions, you're asking the right questions. The questions that, if you ever listen to a talk show or an interview on the news, you're like, ask them this, ask them this, but they don't ask it. Yeah, or gender, because, you know.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And when they were successfully conducting the searches, they would inevitably be asked to work on other searches, executive directors, senior managers. So that intermediate manager to more of a VP role. So we play in that space. And when she came and asked me, I said no. And I actually said no for almost two years because I remembered what it was like when I was a recruiter before.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
Yes, exactly. And even Oprah Winfrey, I'm like, I asked them this question, why aren't you asking? But you ask the exact questions, and they're talking, and then I'm like, oh, what about this, though? And then you ask that question, the next question. It's like you're in my head. Yeah, I just love it. I've had interviews where I'm going through my career, but that's different. This is different.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
This is walking through my journey and talking about it in a very human-centric and emotional way. And I just feel... I feel different. I feel so... It's like cathartic for me. I feel like I just had a therapy session and it made me stop and think about why did I do what I do? So... Thank you very much. That is the value.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
That's the huge value for the people, your guests on your podcast, is that you give them the opportunity to think about things that they're busy people. Everybody's busy, but they're busy doing what they're doing. But you give them an opportunity to reflect on why they're doing it. And that is an incredible gift. That's the gift that you're giving people, Vince. So thank you very much.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And many recruitment companies work almost like real estate agents here in Canada, where they're paid 100% commission. So recruiters, not only do they go out and get the business, so they have to find the client. And when they find the client, that doesn't mean the client's going to give them a search. So they find the client and they have to network and build that.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
When they do get a search, they place candidates and then they send the invoice and they probably get 50 to 60% of that invoice, whatever the company allows them to get. So it's very commission-based and you can make a lot of money. When I did it 20 years ago, when I was leaving, I was making a lot of money. It's very compelling, right?
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And the more you do it, the more network you have, the bigger network is and the easier it is to do the searches. I remember one day I was in my office speaking to this man. He was, I remember it exactly. He was 42 years old. He did not have his degree. And at that time, I did not have my degree. I was close, but I didn't have it.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And he didn't have his degree and he was working with his company for over 20 years and he was let go. They did a restructuring and he was let go. He had a wife and a daughter and every morning they would go off to school and work. He had been traveling 80% of the time for his work. So he was getting depressed and anxious and he was frozen. He was frozen, like in a panic.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
He didn't know what to do. He's in my office and he gets very emotional. And then I talked to him about how to find a job. I was going through all the steps. This is what you're going to do. And he was leaving and he said, I feel so much better. Thank you so much. He said, but I know tomorrow morning I'm going to feel like rubbish. It's this wave of panic I can't explain.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And I said, then you call me every morning. For 10 minutes, we will go over what you're going to do that day. And he called me every day for 10 minutes. And he ended up getting three job offers, none from me or my firm, but he had three job offers. And he wrote the president of my company and said how much I helped him. However, he was in my office for an hour and a half.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And the comment from one of my teammates was, this is non-revenue generating time that you just spent. And when those words were uttered, I realized I was in the wrong place because how can you possibly How can you possibly assign a dollar value to sitting in front of somebody while they're crying and they trust you so much that they're crying and they need your help?
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
So I realized that wasn't the space for me. So fast forward a couple, four years ago when Kim West comes to me and says, can you open a new division? And I said, absolutely not. I never, no. I know recruiters have a bad reputation and because they are commission-based, Their focus is on pleasing the client, not the candidate. We had these conversations on and off.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And then finally she said, what would it take? And I said, what it would take is for me to do it different. Hire people. I will not pay commission. We will hire people and pay them a wonderful salary. And we want them to do the job because they love it.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
helping people find the place that they need to be and that they put that time in and have the empathy and the curiosity and they just do it because they love it. And so she said, okay, do that. For a lot of companies, this is what they want. And that's okay. I'm not saying the contingency recruiting is bad, but it's not for me.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
But what recruiters in contingency say is, Vince, I can find that person for you, but I'm going to charge you 22, 25% of first year salary. But if I don't find that person, you don't have to pay me. So you have nothing to lose, Vince. Why wouldn't you use me?
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
But what that means internally to me as a recruiter, it means, Vince, I'm going to look, and if I can't find somebody really quickly, if it's really complex, if it's hard, and it's taking up all my time, I'm not going to do it because I'm not going to get the money because I'm on 100% commission, right? To me, it doesn't work when you're dealing with people.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
So I came on board, I did focus groups and Vince, everything that you can possibly imagine somebody saying about a recruiter was said in that focus group. So I had 25 to 50 year olds in a focus group. They answered anonymously the questions that we had. And so the first question was, What words would you use to describe a recruiter?
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And I knew it was going to be negative, most of them, but I thought it was actually quite funny, tragic, but the words that they were using, bloodsucker, just the worst words, selfish, high commission, you name it. It was, they were just not good. I had an analogy of somebody saying, a recruiter treats you like a canned good in a pantry.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
They will reach in the very back of the pantry and grab you like you're an old can of beans, blow the dust, wipe the dust off the top. They will present that to the client, and if the client doesn't want that can of beans, they'll put it back in the very back of the pantry, and you will never hear from them again. And I thought that was... So when I started the company, I said, okay, that's easy.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
We won't do that. That's very simple. That's easy. We'll treat candidates with the respect that they deserve and we will answer them when they email. We will answer them when they call because they don't get... answers, right? And so, yes, so we started FACET. We launched it almost two years ago.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
The folks group helped with the name and then I hired my first employee and we worked on the website together. Then we hired our director and then we, all three of us were working on this. Now there's six of us and we're going to be growing in the fall. We're doing work across Canada. Now we're moving in the United States in the search of coming up soon.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
We're doing it with empathy and caring for the people in their lives. I'm constantly saying, to the team. We are changing lives. So you could be sitting at your desk. You're not looking for a job. You're just existing. You're not living. You're just doing your job. And somebody calls you and you pick up the phone like happened to me. And that changed my life that day.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
That person called me and said, do you know anybody that would be good for the pulp and paper industry? What if I didn't get that call Vince? What would I be doing right now? I don't even know. It's like life is pinball game, right? Where you get hit off a bumper and then you're going in a different direction. That phone call, I hit a bumper and it went off in a completely different direction.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And that's what we do for people. We send them an email or a phone call and we say, this is what we're thinking. What do you think? They're so excited that they can't believe that this is even happening. And then they go through the interview process. which we also make caring and lovely, and we hear that all the time. We hear, this has been so much fun.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
When do you go through an interview and someone says, this has been so much fun? Because it should be fun. And that's how you get to know people. And there's no AI tool that can make an interview fun and where you get people to drop their guards and open up. That's when you know the real them. And when you know them as a person and as a potential employee,
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
Then, and it's genuine, then you know what would work best for your client. Because when you know your client really, you go, oh my gosh, that is a perfect match. It's a little bit like matchmaking, right? So we're growing so rapidly. We're having so much fun. I love it. I love it.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
making that phone call and changing people's lives and telling people that push back like when you called me when you sent me a message vince and you said you should be on my podcast and i said oh i don't have anything to say that anybody would listen to and you came back to me again and i said i don't think i'm the person that should be on your podcast and you said yes that's what we do the same we say what about this opportunity and they say i don't have this and this i don't know you get them excited and then
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
you hold their hand and you take that next step together. And I think that's what I love about it.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
Yes, you would.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
Yes. The other day I said I had this incredible role. The first person that popped into my head, I thought, oh my goodness, she would be perfect. I sent her a text message. I've known her many years. I said, take a look at this. And she looked at it and she texted me back and she said, I think I might know a couple of people to connect you with.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
And I said, no, no, you, this, I want you to talk to me about this rule. And she said, me? And I said, yes, read it again. You could do this. And she called me and she goes, oh my gosh, I can. I could do it. She said, but I'm in my 60s. And I said, nobody cares. I don't care. We don't care. Age is a number. You're so wise. You've done this job a million times. You can do it.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
But she was hung up because she's in her early 60s. And I wanted to tell people, That doesn't matter. That's when you're just, you have so much mind share of what you're working on. And those are the people that I just love it. To find people that haven't really pictured themselves in that role and then to tell them the reasons why they should.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
Yes, and that, of course, is the hottest topic, I think, in every sector and every organization. And certainly with this one and both Royer Thompson and Facet, we are very aligned. I think if you're doing mass recruiting,
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
I think that AI would be extremely helpful, you know, so if you're, for many reasons, but I, for example, if you're opening a new Walmart in a new city, I think AI would help you immensely. If you have to hire hundreds of people, I really do. And I think AI, we are using AI at Facet. We are not built for speed. We have a process and it works and we go through that process.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
So each of our searches take about 10 weeks and we have it down Perfectly. But there are places in those phases, so it's four phases that we go through, and there are certainly times where AI will help us, especially help us not miss anything, help us become more efficient. Every month we have an efficiency meeting and we always talk about AI. So with LinkedIn Recruiter, for example, that uses AI.
Chief Change Officer
#181 AI Can Screen Resumes, But It Can’t Spot Great Humans—Holly Bond Explains Why
We will use that to help source candidates and add to our pool. You've received this, Vince, where you get a message on your LinkedIn inbox and it goes, hi, comma, and then it'll have somebody asking you if you're interested in a job. And they've sent it out to 3,000 people. That's not us. We will never do that.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
Yes, and success is a fleeting kind of moment, right? It's all the other things that people look at, and that was a relatively small company, but people look at very successful business owners and they don't realize that the turmoil and the pain and the sacrifice that they went through, they just see the success and they go, oh, look how easy that was.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
But a while back I said, I read this study in the journal and I took that study home And I showed it to my husband. And I said, listen to this. Oh my gosh. And he said, I said, over 50% of kids are obese or overweight. And he said, yeah, Matthew, our son. And I said, part what? And he goes, Matthew, he's... And I could tell by the look on his face, he realized he had said something really rough.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And he said, like, Matthew. And I said, Matthew's not overweight. Matthew's 13 years old. He still has baby fat. He hasn't gone through his growth spurt. He's not fat. And then I was very angry at him and I called my best friend and I was talking to her and she said, what's up? And I said, do you think Matthew's fat?
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And there was a pause on the line and she said, do you want the best friend answer or do you want the real answer? And I said, oh my God, the real answer, she goes, yes, he's overweight. I said, he hasn't gone through his growth spurt. Like he's 13, he still has some baby fat. And she said, there is no time in any child's life that they should be overweight. And that's all she said.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And then I hung up the phone. I felt like people were keeping this secret from me. It was a very odd feeling. And then I looked I had a picture on the wall and it was Matthew standing there, the sweetest face. And he had, he was wearing a short sleeved cotton shirt and the stripes were vertical.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And, but they were, you know, when you draw a pumpkin and you draw the line, so they curve, they're not vertical. And I, it was like a brick. Someone hitting me in the head with a brick. I just saw him as being overweight then. I saw it too. And so I went to him and I said, hey, bud. That's what we say over here in Canada. Everybody's bud or buddy.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
I said, hey, bud, I think we've got like a little bit of an issue. That's all I said. I didn't tell him what it was. And he goes, yeah, I know. And I said, what do you know? And he goes, I'm overweight. And I said, we had moved into a new house and we had a really nice lower level of the house. And I said, you know what? I wanted to put in a gym. So I said, do you want to help me?
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And he said, yeah. And of course, little fat kids, they have little fat friends. All our friends were overweight too. They were all over and now I wasn't going to open it. I had no idea that I was opening Bulldog at this time, but they were over eating pizza and playing video games. There you go. And I said, I'm putting gym equipment in the basement.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And of course they watched the Bowflex commercials too. So even 13 year old boys want to look like the people on TV. I said, what should I put there? And they were talking and I said, would make exercise more fun. And then Matthew said, if we could play video games.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
When he said that, I nearly fell off my chair and I said, of course, we will have a gym and we will integrate video games into the exercise equipment. And that will be the draw. So I, husband James, always encouraging. And that is a key. When you want to change, when you want any kind of change, it doesn't matter what it is.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
To have somebody in your corner that is rooting for you and a sounding board is very key. And I've always had people in my life like that. And my husband James, he was amazing. Amazing. He said, if you want to do this, we'll do this. So we had focus groups in our basement with all these kids and we were taping Sony PlayStation remote controls onto the bikes because the equipment didn't even exist.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And so we had this prototype and then we thought, OK, let's do it. Here's lesson number one. Make sure you have enough money to open your business. And then my husband said, I'll give you $10,000. And we met a gentleman who helped us source and create the equipment that would exercise bikes that were fed through Sony PlayStation and so much other equipment.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And this is going back to 2004, so it has come a long way. The three of us started this company. We opened it in Halifax. It had never been done before. There was no other gym in North America. Or I had calls from Dubai, Singapore, all over the world. People wanted these franchises. So this was just one gym. That's all I was going to do. And I didn't have enough money. I was running it.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
I was there night and day. There I was at the club in the day. And in the evenings, I was working on programming. And then I also didn't have a marketing or PR position. person. So I started calling all the radio and the local TV stations. They came to the club and I said, you have to come here. It's really amazing. They'll come if you have something interesting for them.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
I called the national news and they interviewed me on CTV national news. And I said during the interview that I was creating a franchise. Now I didn't even have an application for I'm not kidding. I had nothing. I don't even know that's lesson number two. You just don't do that. So I said, we're franchising. Now, that was a Saturday. On Sunday, you know, on Canadian news, it loops every half hour.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
So it's looping. So the story is playing over and over all day. When I got home at the end of the evening, I opened up my laptop and I'll never forget. I looked down and said, you have 103 emails. And my first instinct was spam. Oh, my goodness. And I opened it up and it was 101 people wanting a franchise. and a lawyer and a marketing company. So the lawyer said, I can help you franchise.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
The marketing company said, we can help do your marketing. I hired both of those companies. They flew down and met with me. I reached out to every one of those 101 people, And I said, I will get an application form to you. And then I had to create an application form. And I went on to a international franchise company that already exists.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And I look at their franchise form and I tweaked that and I sent it out to 101 people. And that's how we started. We sold 11 franchises. In a matter of two years, we won awards. It was fantastic. It was Canada and Nova Scotia. There was so many funding opportunities because they were trying to small businesses grow. And then a company, it's called Wildbrain now.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
Listeners would know them as the people who own Animated shows, they have a very large library of animated shows like Animal Mechanicals and Dora the Explorer. And they own Charlie Brown Peanuts, those cartoons. So they saw a real connection with making exercise fun for children. And one of their shows that they had for kids where this animated character had a bracelet.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And every time, you know, the animated character would tell kids, jump up and down, jump up and down. And her bracelet would flash on and off. And they thought, what if we sold those bracelets? What if we created this in the Bulldog Interactive Fitness Clubs? And so this is the collaboration that we were going to do. So we sold it. And then the
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
We hit a really bad economic, economic turndown of 2009. The recession hit and they pulled back from any more investment in any new new opportunities. So they just shuttered it. But it was absolutely I've learned so much from that. It was the most difficult thing. ever. And now I help companies. I help people who want to start their own business.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
I help people who want to franchise their business. I tell them all the negative things because everybody can imagine the great things about it. Everybody has their head in the clouds and they're like, I want to do this. And I tell them all the really hard stuff. And if they come back to me, then I help them. But most of them do not. Most people do not come back to me.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
Cast law was always an issue. So if you're well-funded, you take that constant worry and stress out of the way. You know what I learned? I learned two hard things. One was really take it to this day. And I'm a mentor for business owners, and sometimes I see this quality, and I always talk to them about it. We had a board of 16 advisors and shareholders. There were 16 shareholders.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
At one point, we had an individual who wanted to become a major partner and grow this in Toronto. They wanted to have the head office in Toronto and they wanted to have 50% of the company. I was told by my shareholders, they were advising me not to move forward with this person. They didn't get a good sense from them, but I was so excited about the growth of the company.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
that I was ignoring advice. And of course, it's the, oh, Holly Bond is the top seven people to watch in 2007. And, you know, the Export Achievement Award. And so all the accolades, all the awards, always in the news, always in the news. And so it went to, it started to go to, it grew my confidence. And then my confidence became overinflated. And I looked at my shareholders at times and
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
as though they didn't know what they were talking about when they all were extremely successful, tenured entrepreneurs. And I look back at me, I look back at the person I was at that time, and I wish I could sit there where I wish somebody had sat me down and said, look, I understand you're excited. I understand you have people all over the world who want these.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
But you need to listen to what we're saying and you need to follow our advice. We can tell that you're going to, we see that you're going to fall in this hole and we're not going to be able to help you once you are down that hole. It was just the last minute and the last hour that I grabbed their hand and they pulled me out.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
Then I realized it was like, I woke up and I realized how we would have lost everything. And I mean everything.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
personal business because this individual was end up going to jail like it was like a soap opera it was like a crazy story but it's listen to people's advice listen to people that care about you that have done this before and that's what they're there for right and so that was definitely one piece of advice and the other came from an incredible person She's my mentor.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
Her name is Pernilla Fisher-Bolter. She's from Denmark and she owns a company called Kisrop International Trade Routes. She is a global connector. She is a powerhouse. Amazing. And I said to her... And she also was in my corner the entire time. And I leaned on her and I continue this day to run things by her. She mentioned, are you going to sell the company?
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And I said, oh, I don't want to sell the company. It's my baby. She cut me off and she said, this is not a baby. This is a calf that you fatten and you slaughter it. And then it allows you to go off and do something else. But do not look at your business like it's your baby. And that was like, she slapped me across the face. It was a really great learning exercise for me.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
Now, some people will say, you wish you didn't say were franchising when you didn't have a manual you didn't have a lawyer you didn't have you had you didn't even have an application form for a franchise nothing you had nothing it probably was i wouldn't have changed it i would do the same thing again but i wouldn't counsel people to do it i would say get your stuff in order and then do it but
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
Because I was pushed into it. I was forced to. I don't know if I would have done that. Maybe I would have talked myself out of it or let someone else talk me out of it. But sometimes you have to be on the edge of the diving board and you need to jump and take that risk and have that scary change, right? And so you fail.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
But at least you've tried it and you're not looking back when you're 85 years old and saying, you know, what if I had franchised that? Because I see another company that did it. I could have done that. I don't want to be, and I think that's what drives me. I don't want to be, I could have done that. Then do it. Apply for that job that you're not, you don't have all the qualifications.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
Apply for it anyway. What harm could it, you will meet that recruiter that will look at what you've done. If they're really good at what they do, they will look and they will see how you are aligned and they will reach down and grab your hand and pull you out. It just follows me through everything I do.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
I'm speaking to you from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Canada. The population of Halifax is about 500,000 and growing rapidly. The population of our province is about 1.1 million. So not a lot of people here, but as I've grown through the years, the population has significantly increased. We're in a boom right now.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
So I was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and I've spent my entire life on the east coast of Canada. And I absolutely love it. I've traveled many places in the world and I love and I'm always excited to come back home.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
So interesting when I go back to and I'll go back to the very beginning of when I was growing up, it was interesting because I have five brothers and sisters and education wasn't a priority. In our growing up, you were probably going to go to trade school, as we called it.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And now it's community college referred to, but trade school and become a secretary or a hairdresser or one of those careers, which is wonderful, but it wasn't for me. So I was more the black sheep of the family. And I fought to talk my parents into helping me go to university. And I did go and I took two years. So I had a sort of business certificate.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And then I left and I moved to another province. I got married and I had two children. And it always bothered me that I didn't finish my degree. It's something that always stuck out to me. And that was before the internet. We're talking 80s, early 90s. After my daughter was born in 1992, we moved back to Halifax and I went over to my university that I had my certificate from.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And I talked to my dean. And just a few years before that, I was this mouthy... overconfident young person. And then I arrived in the dean's office with my two children. One was two years old and one was in a baby carrier. And she laughed and she said, I will help you. And it was really difficult, I have to say, because I was reading children's books. I was focusing on being a homemaker.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And so I finished my degree. And from the time I started And I think this is really important. From the time I started my degree to the time I finished and I got my certificate and it was handed to me, it was 17 years. I make jokes about it now.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
I said it took me 17 years because a lot of times having a new family and one person in the family was the income earner, sometimes we didn't have money for me to take one course. So I was taking one course at a time. I knew one day I would get there. So when I look over my left shoulder in my office, at my home office. I have my diploma on the wall and it's from 2003.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And my kids, my husband intercepted it. It came in the mail and he had it matted and framed. And on the mat, my kids wrote, my daughter wrote, congratulations, mom, I love you. And then my son wrote, we are very proud of you. You're the bomb. And so that is so meaningful to me because I wanted to show them that it's never too late to finish what you started. And that's how I brought them up.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
You always finish what you start. It doesn't matter if you're taking violin lessons or you are taekwondo, you have to finish the semester. You can leave, but you have to finish what you start and then continue on.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
When I started my career, now when I, my whole theme and I think the theme for the show is change is good and it's the only thing of course that you can expect in life is that we're going to have change. When you learn to embrace it, This journey that we're on becomes so much more exciting and so much more relevant and beautiful. And so I've changed my career often.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
So I went from being a homemaker to working part-time retail to being retail manager. I really love sales, but I don't want to wait for people to walk in. I want to sell. So I thought, so I looked at all the jobs in the newspaper and I didn't have my degree. That prevented me from applying for many jobs, which...
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
Today, when I'm looking at resumes, I keep that in mind because there are some people that do not have the MBA, the PhD, even a degree that are fantastic. And we cannot overlook that. And that's one of the things with AI that we'll talk about later. So because I never let that stop me, I never let it stop me from moving ahead in life. So I took the first outside sales job ever.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
that someone would hire me. And that was with waste management, selling large garbage containers from behind shopping malls. I thought I'm going to do two years and have a proven sales track record. And then I'm going to use that as a springboard to get into a better career. So I was very successful at that.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And one day I was sitting in my car, probably in the back of a shopping mall by a garbage can. And my phone rang and it was this man. And he said, you don't know me. I'm a headhunter and I work at this firm.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And I am wondering, someone gave me your name and they said that you might be able to connect me with somebody in the waste industry that would be suitable for handling pulp and paper waste from these pulp and paper manufacturing plants. And I said, I could do that. I didn't know what a headhunter was. I didn't know what a recruiter was. I went to see him. I interviewed for the role.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And as I went through the process... I was infatuated with this. So I was offered the job, which was very exciting because it was an excellent sales job, you know, where I got to travel and I would have my own F-150 truck. I'm like, this is it. I've made it big time. But I said, I told the recruiter who owned the company, I don't want to do that. I want to do this. I want to do what you're doing.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
I find it fascinating and I love connecting people. So can I work with you? So I started to talk to him and interview with him, and then he wanted to hire me. And I thought, wait now, if I look around at the other recruiters, what company is the best recruitment company here? And there was only a few.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And I said, I'm going to use his job offer and go to them and say, look, I can work with you or I can work against you and be your competitor. It landed me in a recruiting job in 2000. I did that for three years. And there was so much that I loved about it. Helping people. And I have stories about people crying in my office because your career is who you are. It's what you do.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And when you're not where you want to be, I want to help people change the trajectory of their life is what I feel a good recruiter can do. So when I was a recruiter, at that time, my father was ill. He was dying of cancer. And it put everything in perspective. So I thought, I wish I had gone into the health care industry.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And I thought that if I went to pharmaceutical and I used my sales experience in the pharmaceutical industry, that it would somehow, I don't know, help my father, help sick people. I don't know what I was thinking, actually. And so I did. I headhunted myself to a pharmaceutical company.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And while I was there, that is when I read the first really big study about youth inactivity and obesity in North America. I remember where I was sitting when I read it. It was in the New England Journal of Medicine. I read that. I can see the picture on the front cover. It changed my life. I looked at that and I said, this is a pandemic.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
Over 50% of our kids are obese and 80 to 90% of them are not getting enough exercise. Which to me is all, right? So that was what I was meant to do. And I was a personal fitness trainer and I loved to exercise. And I thought I'm going to start a gym. I didn't think I was going to start a franchise. I just wanted to have a gym that helped kids get fit. That was a crazy ride.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
So I ended up selling that company, moving on to Bullfrog Power. And spent nine years in renewable energy, helping, really helping to save the planet. And using my sales abilities and my connecting abilities, my networking and my leadership skills to put together the team across Canada that could help combat climate change. And then I left there. I thought, oh, I'm 50 now. I'm going to retire.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And then the Halpax Partnership reached out and said, would you like to help sell the city? And that, to me... was probably one of the best things I've ever done in my life. Your job is really bragging about that you live in the best place in the world and that companies should expand here. That was unbelievable.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And you can see that I went from retail to outside sales to pharmaceutical to owning my own business. I changed to economic development and then the next step, COVID hit and everything was grounded. I couldn't fly to other countries and tell them that they needed to take a look at Halifax. So I became a little antsy, a little bit bored.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And then a startup called me and asked me if I could work with them on a contract position for the chief strategy officer. And I love to build. So I helped them build and I helped them get their series A. And then that's when, where I'm at now, the parent company, Royer Thompson, They wanted to expand their business and they asked me if I would open a new division and run with it.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
They didn't know what it would be called, what kind of sectors they would be looking at. They just said, you do it, you build it, which I love. And so that's where I'm at now. So that is my path. I'm married. My name is Holly Bond. I'm married to James Bond. And people all say, I'll say, yeah, my name is Holly Bond. And they say, oh, how's James?
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And they laugh when they don't know if they're really making a joke or if they actually know or if they know James. And I have two incredible children. Brilliant. My son, Matthew, he's in the ocean sector and he lives in Houston, Texas. And my daughter, Rachel, is in business development and in environmental engineering technology. She lives here in Halifax. Here we are.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
It's so interesting that you say that. I had this very conversation over dinner last night. And as I'm getting older and I think of what do I want to do next? And my son, I was talking to him last week and he said, I was talking to him about what am I going to do next? And he said, Mom, why can't you just enjoy life, right? You're almost 60. Why don't take time for yourself and enjoy life?
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And what drives you? Why do you keep having to conquer something else, move, conquer? And I've been thinking about that for a week now, and I had this conversation last night. And I don't know, Vince, I don't know if it comes from When I was young and grandmother was an entrepreneur. She owned nursing homes, seniors residences.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And she started and she told me the stories where she had $11 and arrived in Nova Scotia and started off with a little corner shop. And then she saved the money and then she kept buying buildings and creating nursing homes. And I always thought that was amazing. But I think... I don't know what, I feel like I have to prove something that I can do it.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And I think it might be because I did not, when I went back to university, when all of my other friends graduated, moved away, we called it the brain drain, okay? In the late 80s and early 90s, people were leaving Nova Scotia and they were emigrating to other parts of Canada and around the world. And our population was declining here. And I think I didn't have my degree,
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And in a dinner conversation, when you meet somebody, they go, oh, Holly, what do you do? That always caused me anxiety. Oh, I'm a homemaker. I left university. I have my certificate. What do you do? Oh, I have my MBA. I'm living in Paris or Hong Kong or Florida, and this is what I'm doing. And so I felt everybody was moving ahead of me. I always had this feeling like I had to run to catch up.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And I think might still be with me. I feel like there's so many things that I want to do. There's so many different sectors that are so incredibly interesting to me. And maybe it's because I'm attention deficit. That could be a two. Who knows? But I just know there's so many interesting things to do and I want to try everything. And I don't want to be 85. and look back and say, I wish I did that.
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
And the other thing that I think has just been recently, my family has told me this, my mother died a couple of days before my 30th birthday, which also happens to be Christmas. And she was my age when she died. I think through the last 10 years, especially, I feel like that date of that she was like 57, I think that that it was almost subconsciously, what if I only have till 57?
Chief Change Officer
#180 Holly Bond: From Fitness Franchises to Entrepreneurial Faceplants
What do I want to do? And I think it's been driving me. And now I'm here. Who knows? Maybe I will realize that I don't have to continue to race.